OneWorld South Asia
15 September 2004
LINK POPULATION GROWTH WITH DEVELOPMENT, NOT RELIGION
by Ram Puniyani
Though the current controversy over the population growth rate in Muslims is misplaced, related issues like poverty and illiteracy in the community need redressal.
The current social common sense rides on many misconceptions. These myths form the base of ‘hate other’ ideology and have started creating emotional and physical walls between different communities in great measure in recent years. One of these myths is that Muslims marry four times.
In the prevailing scenario the census commission’s observation that the rate of rise of Hindu population has declined from 25.1 per cent in 1981–1991 to 20.3 per cent in 1991–2001 and the rate of Muslim growth has gone up from 34.5 per cent to 36 per cent during the same period only adds to the misconceptions.
This despite the fact that a national newspaper published the news that the census commission has goofed up. In its report on religion, it forgot to mention that the previous data of 1991 did not include Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir. So the comparison and the supposed rate of rise seemed higher.
In reality there is a decline in the Muslim rate of growth to 29.3 per cent, which is a decline of 3.7 per cent. The total population of Muslims remains 13.4 per cent while the Hindu population is 80.5 per cent.
At the time of Partition the Muslim population was 11.6 per cent. Even in the current data there are some holes. To begin with many Adivasis (tribals) have now got themselves registered in the category of ‘other religions,’ rather than Hindus, which was earlier automatically put in front of their names. This time the minority Jains (who practice vegetarianism and advocate non-vi9lence) have also been put as a separate category.
So this decline in the rate of rise of the Hindu population is not as great as it appears. The national census commission did not highlight these intricacies of the data analysis, thereby affecting the interpretation. Was this lopsided presentation deliberate? Or, is it that our learned demographers cannot handle this simple analysis?
To begin with, one is surprised by the correlation of population and religion. The rise of population is more an index of poverty and lack of education rath than the teaching of any religion. And no religious community is spread uniformly all over India. The population growth rate among Muslims in Kerala is very low as compared to Muslims in other parts of the country.
Since Muslims have been discriminated against, their overall rate of population growth is higher. The last two decades in particular have seen an increased intimidation and consequently ghettoisation of the Muslim community. The more recent 2002 Gujarat carnage is a case in point. In such an adverse situation, social reforms and progress take a back seat.
There is a need to provide an atmosphere where the community can enjoy social and political life with security and dignity. Despite such an adverse situation, a decline in the population growth rate suggests that social workers are consciously focussing their efforts on education and progress in the community.
Religion based census data can serve a better purpose, though. If this opens our eyes to the plight of a particular community and its poverty, illiteracy and insecurity and we aim to redress it as a nation, the data will be worthwhile.
One hopes the government will take suitable remedial efforts to recognise that population control cannot be achieved without social progress and spread of literacy.
|
